Oil pipelines

In oil and gas industry of C.l.S. a lot of pipelines are in operation, including 206 thousand km of main gas pipelines, 65 thousand km of main oil pipelines, 6 thousand km of product pipelines and more than 300 thousand km of field pipelines of different applications. Two thirds of pipelines are more than 15 years old. 

In the coal-mining industry, more than 300 mines are operated in three coal-mining regions Ukraine produces only 5 5 million tons of its own oil, but the ramified network of oil pipelines supports the operation of 10 petroleum plants. The Ukrainian gas pipelines transport the Russian gas to Central and Western Europe. 

The methodology and the pigging tool has been tested and validated during a demonstration survey conducted on the Danish 107 kilometre 20 oil pipeline running from the West Coast of... 

The methodology and the pigging tool have proven to be capable of identifying very small leaks. In oil pipelines like the Danish carrying 1500 m /h leakages down to 1 litre per hour can be detected without injection of large quantities of tracer. Leakages can be positioned with an accuracy of less than 1 metre. 

Final Technical Report, Thermie project OG/203/94, Development of a Novel Super Sensitive Leakage Inspection Pig for Inspection of Oil Pipelines , FORCE Institute, 1997... 

The fluoroelastomers possess good mbber properties with the added advantages of being nonburning, hydrophobic, and solvent- and fuel-resistant. In addition to these, because of flexibiHty down to about —60° C, these polymers have been used in seals, gaskets, and hoses in army tanks, in aviation fuel lines and tanks, as well as in cold-climate oil pipeline appHcations. These polymers have also found appHcation in various types of shock mounts for vibration dampening (14,17). 

Crude Oil and Products Pipelines. The tme pioneering in long-range modem oil pipelines was the constmction of two pipelines to move cmde oil from Texas to New Jersey and Peimsylvania during World War II. These were named the Big Inch (2156-km, 600-mm dia) and the Litde Big Inch (2373-km, 500-mm dia) pipelines. 

Manor Way, A1014 provides road access to the mainland a rail line for freight nms fmiii the main line through the Shell UK Oil refinery to Thames Haven, and to the Mobil Oil disiribution terminal at Coi-yton. A deep water channel provides access to the ten jetties of the two refineries. The control room and pumping station for the U.K. oil pipeline is located at Coryton. Oil products are transported by pipeline from Texaco Ltd on Canvey Island and from the two oil refineries ou the mainland Helicopters from the site landing pad. survey the pprelines. 

Texaco Limited, Canvey Island tank farm on the west side of the methane terminal is used to import petroleum products by sea via the two jetties, store and distribute them by tanker-trucks and sea, but mostly by the U.K. oil pipeline. The storage capacity is 80,000 tonnes of petroleum products employing about 130 people. 

London and Coastal Oil Wharves Limited bulk stores, in tanks, a variety of petroleum products and other substances that are flammable or toxic. Some tankage is leased to Texaco Limited which is connected into the UK oil pipeline for transfer from the site. Products also are rcccis cd by road and sea. The storage capacity is more than 3(X),(XK) tonnes with about fifty people employed. 

The process involved in the incident is concerned with the separation of crude into three phases. The crude is pumped into a two stage separation process where it is divided into three phases oil, gas, and water. The water is cleaned up and dumped to drain. The remaining mixture of oil and gas is then pumped into the main oil line where it is metered and sent on for further processing. A simplified process diagram is shown in Figure 7.1. The case study described here is centered on a flange leak in one of the oil pipeline pumps (pump A) and its associated pressure relief valve piping. 

Oil Spills. Oil spills occur from oil pipeline leaks, oil tanker accidents, or submarine oil drilling operations. The two major ocean drilling accidents—oil wells blowing out—were the 1969 Santa Barbara Channel spill and the 1979 Yucatan Peninsula spill, in Mexico. The Yucatan spill spewed out more than three million barrels before being capped in 1980. Both caused damage to beaches and marine life, but the smaller Santa Barbara spill was far more devastating because of unfavorable winds following the accident. 

However, there are several issues with widespread methanol usage. Methanol production from natural gas is relatively inefficient ( 67%), and this largely offsets the vehicular improvement in efficiency and carbon dioxide reduction (since gasoline can be made with "85% efficiency from oil). Additionally, the PEM fuel cell demands very pure methanol, which is difficult to deliver using existing oil pipelines and may require a new fuel distribution infrastructure. 

There are several different situations in which petroleum hydrocarbons pose a threat that has attracted solution by bioremediation. These include (1) oil-refinery waste and contamination of the surrounding soil, (2) leakage from oil pipelines and underground storage tanks or basins, and (3) spillage of crude oil in the marine enviromnent after accidents at sea. 

Corrosion inhibitors, which are used for the protection of oil pipelines, are often complex mixtures. The majority used in oil production systems are nitrogenous and have been classified into the following broad groupings ... 

The preparation of a corrosion inhibitor in the solid form allows the development of a new technique of continuous intensive anticorrosive protection for gas and oil pipelines, as well as for acidizing operations of oil wells [746]. The controlled dissolution of the solid inhibitor creates a thin protective layer on the metallic surface that prevents or minimizes the undesirable corrosion reactions. 

Another analytic procedure based on HPLC has been developed for the quantitative determination of nitrogen-containing corrosion inhibitors [1194]. The method was primarily developed for the analysis of certain oil pipeline condensate samples. 

Methods used to control presumptive corrosion include deaeration and dehydration. Carbon dioxide and hydrogen sulfide are the main corrosives in pipelines for natural gas, but they are only aggressive in the presence of water. Therefore sweetening and drying the gas are useful to prevent corrosion. In oil pipelines, water emulsified in crude oil can cause corrosion problems [251]. Emulsified crude oil in separated produced water is also an environmental and disposal problem. 

Inhibitors may be classified according to their solution properties as either oil-soluble inhibitors, water-soluble inhibitors, or dispersible inhibitors. Chemical inhibitors act as film formers to protect the surface of the pipeline. Corrosion inhibitors, used for the protection of oil pipelines, are often complex mixtures. The majority of inhibitors used in oil production systems are nitrogenous and have been classified into the broad groupings given in Table 11-4. Typical corrosion inhibitors are shown in Table 11-5. For details, see also Chapter 6. 

The main problem of hydrate formation will arise in pipelines transporting natural gas, because gas hydrates are solids and will leave deposits. The solid deposits reduce the effective diameter of the pipeline and can therefore restrict or even clog the flow properties. Furthermore, the formation of condensates, hydrates, or ice may occur in the course of decompression of natural gas stored in natural reservoirs (e.g., in salt caverns). The operation of oil and gas pipelines in the deep sea is significantly complicated by the formation of gas hydrates [1204]. Experience indicates that large gas hydrate plugs in gas and oil pipelines form most actively during the period of an unforeseen long shut-down. In static conditions, three types of hydrate crystals can be formed [1153] ... 

Vosikovsky, O., Macecek, M., and Ross, D.J. Allowable defect sizes in a sour crude oil pipeline for corrosion fatigue conditions, International Journal of Pressure Vessels and Piping, 13,197-226,1983. 

There are over 1800 industrial enterprises operating in Ukraine. They are manufacturing, using and storing nearly 280 thousand tons of toxicants including 9,8 thousand tons of chlorine and 178 thousand tons of ammonia. An extensive network of gas- and oil pipelines and interstate ammonia-line is available. Potential victims in these areas can be about 20 million persons (38,5 % of citizens residing in this country). Usage of products manufactured and stored at these enterprises as a tool of chemical terrorism, both in Ukraine and in the other countries, is not excluded. 

Many of Russia s major oil pipelines parallel gas lines. A trunk oil line runs eastward from the Volga-Ural fields to Irkutsk on Lake Baikal, westward from those fields into Ukraine and Latvia, and southwest to connect with the North Caucasus oil... 

The network of crude oil pipelines in the U.S. is extensive. There are approximately 55,000 miles of crude oil trunk lines (usually 8-24 inches in diameter) in the U.S. that connect regional markets. The map below shows some of the major crude oil trunk lines in the U.S. (Figure 1). 

Corrosion is by far the most serious hazard of pipeline incidents. It is imperative that adequate corrosion monitoring programs be provided for all hydrocarbon pipelines. Order crude oil pipelines operating at elevated temperatures appear more susceptible to corrosion failures than other pipelines. 

The flow of gas-liquid mixtures in pipes and other items of process equipment is common and extremely important. In some cases the quality, that is the mass fraction of gas in the two-phase flow, will vary very little over a large distance. An example of this is the flow in many gas-oil pipelines. In other cases, boiling or condensation occurs and the quality may change very significantly although the total mass flow rate remains constant. 

In some cases the change of quality will be negligible so the second term in the numerator of equation 7.65 can be neglected. The other feature leading to acceleration, namely the compressibility of the gas phase, is responsible for the form of the denominator. Sometimes gas compressibility will be negligible, particularly if the overall pressure is high this is the case in gas-oil pipelines. 

---